Joe Biden. Washington Times/AP.
Joe Biden's campaign is denying sexual assault claims made by former staffer Tara Reade. Washington Times. Reade was a staffer for Biden during his Senate days in the 1990's and she has already accused Biden of inappropriate touching. However, she now claims that Biden grabbed her and forced his fingers inside of her. This is not the first time Joe Biden has been accused of harassing or assaulting women but this is the most serious case he has been accused of.
My Comment:
I'm of two minds on this case. On the one hand I have always thought Joe Biden was a creep at best. There are so many videos of him making women and girls very uncomfortable with how touchy he is. He sniffs people's hair and grabs their shoulders and is generally gross. At the very least Biden is a person who doesn't understand the concept of personal space and I could certainly see him assaulting a woman. With all the videos out there of Biden doing this in public it's not much of a stretch that he would go even further in private.
On the other hand, these accusations are suspiciously timed. Though Reade initially made her claims awhile ago she didn't feel necessary to mention that Biden raped her, but instead claimed that she was just harassed. This of course begs the question of why she didn't mention that when the issue first came up?
It also comes as Biden is the presumptive candidate and has largely defeated Bernie Sanders. The timing isn't great as at this point the only realistic person to replace Biden via an election is Sanders. It also doesn't help that Reade is not a supporter of Biden and could have a personal grudge against him. Sanders supporters certainly hope this is the thing that takes Biden down.
So do I believe Reade? I am not sure. Supposedly she told people back in the 90's that Biden did this to her which makes it more believable than a lot of similar accusations against politicians. However, it's still just a he said she said thing with no arrests or investigations happening. Without further evidence I don't think this enough to derail his campaign.
That being said, I don't think the attacks on Reade are fair either. She's being attacked as a "Russian agent" as that seems to be the establishment Democrats only answer to any scandal. She did write a now-deleted post praising Vladimir Putin but that shouldn't count for anything. Having political beliefs that don't align with the Democratic establishment should be a point in her favor if anything.
Will this hurt Joe Biden? I doubt it. After President Trump and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who were both attacked in the same way and survived, I think the effectiveness of he said she said attacks are wearing out. #MeToo is a spent political force and Democrats dislike both Bernie Sanders and President Trump enough to overlook this.
I've already seen some Democrats say that even if the accusations are true they will still vote for Joe Biden over Bernie Sanders and/or Donald Trump. I can't complain about that too much as I said I would still vote for Donald Trump if the accusations against him were true. I've always said people should vote on policy and nothing else. But I do think it's pretty hypocritical of a party that's supposed to be about woman's rights.
Still, I don't know if Joe Biden's career is as safe as it seems. This issue may not be what sinks his campaign, but still wouldn't be surprised if Biden is replaced. Biden has shown a shocking decline in his mental faculties and he has been making some pretty insane gaffes lately. I personally think he has Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia. Sorry to the Bernie Bros, but it's not going to be Sanders. The odds on favorite is Andrew Cuomo, who has a high profile from the Coronavirus outbreak, and has the major advantage of being politically popular.
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